Lizards in the Leaves

Rustlings in the green....imagination, art, whimsy

Dec 31, 2006

Tri-loom Weaving Adventures, Part 1a

I have lost a whole week due to illness, and yet....I seem to have made quite a few things! But more about that later...today, for my last entry of the year, I want to feature my granddaughter Raven the Clever and Crafty.

She came over to spend the day with me on Friday the 22nd and I had all sorts of plans for things to do together. Unfortunately, that was the day I came down with my cold and wound up being housebound for the day. We still had a fine time, I thought, doing something I hadn't planned.

I introduced her to my 12" tri-loom. And she caught on to the weaving in a snap, finishing her first tri in about 20 minutes. Now here's the clever and crafty part.

She played around with the tri and decided it would make a neat sort of glove-wristlet. And it did, so she made another one to match, one that wasn't matchy-matchy (as they say on Project Runway.)

This is all Raven's design and work, with only a little assistance from me in helping to accomplish what she wanted, e.g., showing her how to make a strong loop by chaining and slip-stitching back through the chain.

She even figured out two ways to wear what we are calling Raven's Risters:

Dec 16, 2006

Tri-loom Weaving Adventures - Part 1

I have been truly enjoying my beginning explorations in the realm of tri-loom weaving. Actually what I am enjoying is the technique called 'continuous warp' weaving and it is not limited to weaving triangles. With this technique and the appropriate loom shape, and peg or nail configurations, you can weave squares and rectangles and diamonds as well as triangles, without first warping the loom. The warp and weft are created at the same time.

In any case, though I have a square loom (2 of them) made for continuous warp weaving, I have only been working with the triangles. In Part 2, I will write about the looms themselves. But this post is about What You Can Do With Small Triangles.

I agreed to do a workshop with that theme, to follow the introduction to triangle weaving workshop at RiverWools in January. This is waaaaaay out of my comfort zone, to do a workshop, but I decided to give it my best effort.

And what a fabulous learning experience it proved to be for me! It forced me to focus on a single fiber goal for one thing. My normal attention span for projects and techniques and even colors is..well, a tad longer than an eyeblink. So I start lots of things and do finish a few of them, but often never work on anything long enough to get into that idyllic flow state - that creative, spirit-nourishing state in which perception of time shifts and one connects with the work in an immensely satisfying way. And often creative leaps are made.

So. I set to work to create information to pass on - first how to connect these small triangles that the class will be making on the sample looms. These looms make tri's about 11" across the top (the hypotenuse). I've got about 5-6 ways now to demonstrate in the workshop. My favorite way to connect them is to sew them together in a way that echoes the weaving, and is a little less noticeable than crocheting them together.

I then challenged myself to come up with several projects that used just one triangle. Here are the results of that exercise, two drawstring pouches and two cone-shaped containers:This pouch was woven with two strands of Plymouth Encore, a variegated and a solid. It has two seams and the opening is edged in crochet, with an eyelet round to thread the drawstring through. The drawstring is a twisted cord made with the variegated Encore. My original idea with the cone was that it would be a cute project for reviving the old May Day custom of putting a little bouquet of spring flowers on a neighbor's doorknob, and tiptoeing away, leaving the sweet surprise to be discovered later.

This one is made from my multi-colored handspun 2-ply and Crystal Palace Choo-Choo in Kiwi, a mostly rayon ladder yarn. There is one seam and no other finishing fiber technique is required, except some twisting and knotted to make the hanging cord and tassel at the bottom.I also realized that these cones would also make cute wall pockets or candy holders for Christmas fun. This next was made with Cascade 128 and a multi-colored cotton ribbon yarn for which I can't find the band. I edged the opening with single crochet and went around again with a slip stitch, so it's a bit firmer than the one above.This pouch seems like a perfect Valentine's Day project.This was made with the same pink Cascade 128 along with Berroco Zen ribbon yarn. I folded the tri in half and seamed it along the side. Then with #7 dpn I picked up stitches all around the top and knitted for about 2" in stockinette, then did an eyelet round and a picot bind-off. I'm not sure how I made the cord....I don't have the pouch here as it's at Riverwools going into a display for the workshop.

Finally, I made some more little goddess shrines, so now my Peace Mother Goddess has a little company:I'd like to see how many more things I can dream up for one tri, but I thought I ought to come up with a few projects for using more.

Here's a bag made with four triangles, using two strands of Plymouth Encore for the weaving. I made two squares by sewing/weaving two triangles together. Then I edged the squares in single crochet and sewed them together. The strap was done in crochet - first a chain then back and forth along the chain with slip stitch.And here's a scarf done with just one ball of Noro Silk Garden 228. It's made of nine triangles. The tri's were sewn together with a green NatureSpun sport weight. I used the same yarn to edge the scarf in single crochet.

Finally, I had to let go and freeform a bit! This scarf/neckpiece was made of triangles of Noro Kujaku 22, joined at odd angles, overlapped and embellished with chain and single crochet in Noro Aurora which has a bit of sparkle.

And there you go! My Forest Floor Shawl needs some attention now and I hope to have that finished within a couple of weeks, certainly by the time of the workshop!

Dec 15, 2006

Elf Cloth

Another quickie entry as it's taking me awhile to get together all I want to post about my tri-loom work. This is the sweet tablecloth I got on eBay last month -- has a Swedish look about it, doesn't it? It came to me from a seller in Canada (who allowed me to use her pictures.)

Dec 14, 2006

A Finished Object(s)

This is only going to be a teeny hellooooo entry as I just spent a great deal of time creating a long-overdue entry for my decluttering blog.

Above you see the (Brown Sheep) Wild Violet / (KnitPiks ) Carrot socks I wrote about many months ago, when I decided I was only going to knit socks with worsted weight and size 4 needles. Unfortunately I discovered that such socks are not all that comfy if you actually have to walk in them for any length of time. So I may reconsider knitting with those teeny-weeny 1's and 2's. Especially since I just got a ball of that Opal yarn created in honor of the artist Hundertwasser, whose work has long been on my inspiration shelf.

I'll be back, hopefully with a nice posting on my tri-loom adventures.

Dec 2, 2006

Zelda & the Forest Floor Shawl

Just a quick post. I've been busymaking lots of things, workingon my small tri-loom andpreparing to do a workshop(EEEEK) in using the smalltri's.

I want to introduce you toZelda, my new helper. I havebeen longing for a dress formbecause it has been very difficultto work on the freeform designsthat are in my head for shawls and vests.Molly braved the post-Thanksgiving crowdsand picked up this dress form for me at JoAnn's,for $80. I don't think I'd be happy withthis if I were doing serious sewing/tailoring, butfor piecing together my freeform shapes, Zeldais absolutely perfect.

Here is my work-in-progress, the Forest Floor Shawl:

It's made of small woven triangles in Noro Blossom, joined in a freeform fashion, with areas offreeform crochet in the same Blossom. I'm also using some Noro Silk Mountain, for the edging and here and there in the body.

My guiding vision is of a shawl sort of magically whirled together out of all the leaves and twigs and seed pods and bits of bark on a forest floor.

I'm having so much fun with this-especially since Zelda has come to help!Namaste,Zann

About Me

Professor's wife, mother of four, zannma to two. Grew up in Coral Gables, Florida, transplanted to Indiana at age 40, where I saw my first snow and learned to love wool. We homeschooled three of the kids, I helped to create a used bookshop ( Wabash River Books 1996-2005)and became an online bookseller. I started this blog in 2005 to share my mid-life artwork (primarily fiber), poetry and creative explorations. On March 18, 2006 my 20 year-old son Patrick died...and my world irrevocably changed.
I own 64 years now. Life is very mysterious, magickal, beautiful and sweet and sad.